As we see it, a stunning, drool-inducing wedding cake is the single most important part of any reception—well, second most important, after a happy couple. (Okay, debatable.) Whether you’re planning your own nuptials or curious about what you’ll be served a slice of on five consecutive Saturdays this summer, we’ve got you covered. We asked three of the country’s most sought-after bakers, capable of nothing short of pastry-bag wizardry, to look in their blown-sugar crystal balls and tell us what wedding cake trends are in store for 2017 and beyond.
I'm in Love with the Shape of Cakes
Said Amy Berman of Vanilla Bake Shop in Santa Monica and Pasadena, “What’s starting to emerge a little bit is different shapes of cakes. Most wedding cakes are either round or square, but I’ve seen and done some hexagonal and rectangular cakes that were really cool and different, stacked in different ways and in unusual heights.”
That Frosting Tho
Amy Beck of Amy Beck Cake Design in Chicago has baked “forever,” more than 30 years—all the way back to the blue-ribbon-winning clown cake she made in the 4-H club as a kid. “The biggest major, major, major change that I have seen is in fondant cakes,” Beck told me. “They went from very chunky and whimsical to very streamlined, with very hard edges on the fondant. Even when people show me cakes that are a couple years old, I ask them, ‘Can we update it a little bit?’ Those hard edges make it look like it’s more 2017. It’s a much more clean, elegant wedding cake that’s coming out now.”
Pretty Please, with Cookies on Top
Katie Page has been decorating cakes for Baked in Red Hook, Brooklyn for five years. “When I first started, there were a lot more fondant flower decorations on cakes,” she said. “People are veering away from that.” Now, in her experience, fresh flowers and bold metallic embellishments are very much in. Berman reports seeing quite a few French macarons deployed as wedding-cake accents, in case your sweet tooth has a sweet tooth.
Get Naked
Every baker I spoke to told me that “naked” cakes are among the most frequent requests they’re fielding. Last year, Page told me, the frosting-free confections were just beginning to take off, but this year, they’re absolutely everywhere. “Every other consultation that I have with couples, they’re interested in that design,” she said. But just because they’re exposed doesn’t mean these cakes aren’t a canvas crying out for some creative decoration: “Maybe they’re accented with really yummy fresh fruit and elements that tell you what’s inside the cake,” Berman said.
The (Literal) Icing on the Cake
Speaking of what’s inside the cake, Berman has witnessed an uptick in experimental flavors, including, delightfully, more and more clients requesting Funfetti-style confetti cake. “They’re like, ‘Let’s be playful. Weddings don’t have to be so stuffy.’” For summertime wedding cakes, Amy Beck Cake Design has had mouthwatering success with a vibrant passionfruit curd. And when frosting is in play, Beck reports, decorators are making buttercream more interesting than ever before, with textures like ridges, spirals, and swirls. “You can do very, very elegant wedding cakes with textured buttercreams. Even now when people say, ‘We want a smooth buttercream,’ a lot of times they end up seeing the textured and want to go with the textured. It’s the style these days,” she said.
Rose Gold Is the New Gold Gold
Other by-now-familiar cake trends aren’t fading, exactly, but changing. “You’re seeing still tons of metallics, but not as much the same 14-carat gold,” Beck said. “It’s kind of moving into a rose gold, copper-ish. Although, don’t get me wrong, we’re still seeing tons of gold. It’s so easy at a wedding. It looks so beautiful.” Super-striking geode cakes are evolving, too. As Berman said, “Instead of doing a geode carved out of the cake, we might use little clusters—it’s rock candy we use—on alternating corners of the cake. It’s a bold, very specific look to do the whole thing. We get those, but it’s here and there.” Marble cakes are also holding strong. “It’s all about the tones that you use and the palette,” Berman said. “Subtlety is always what makes them so striking, not being too heavy-handed with the decorating.”
Ombré Is Dead, Long Live Ombré
Last summer, Baked made a lot of ombré cakes—either with fondant decorations or with the buttercream itself—but as far as Page can tell, that trend seems to be cooling off. “One of the cakes that we feature [on the Baked site] has ombré cascading fondant roses. We were doing a lot of that last year, and this year, I don’t think I’ve done a single one yet,” she said. Berman advised that couples consider an ombré with neutral colors, like taupe or peach. “It adds this cool modern edge to the cake,” she said.
Looking ahead, Beck hopes we’ll soon see a rise in cakes decorated with a bas-relief texture, crediting cake designer and author Maggie Austin for pioneering the style. She likens the gorgeous three-dimensional look, inspired by the techniques of classical sculpture and created with custom molds, to a vintage china vase. “For the minimalist, you can do a beautiful bas-relief design that sort of creeps up the side of the wedding cake, or is on a little bit of the tiers,” Beck said. “Then you can accent it with an antique-ish gold, you can accent it with silver, or you can keep it pure alabaster white with no hints of metallic.”
What's Next?
Berman’s excited by the prospect of incorporating graphics into cakes, citing a striking black wedding cake with a delicate floral overlay that was recently masterminded by one of Vanilla Bake Shop’s designers. “You can take a pattern from your wedding invitation and print it, then we paint over it a little bit. It brings it to life. It looks more hand-touched,” she said. She’d also love to work with more cakes painted with watercolors, a “really gorgeous” look. “It’s very specific decorators who have that skill set,” she said.
But now more than ever, brides and grooms are feeling free to smush whatever kind of cake makes their heart sing into their beloved’s face. “[Clients are] loosening up in regards to their wedding and their wedding cake choices,” Berman said. “People are having a lot more fun.” Mazel tov!